So they’ve thankfully made it past that insanely fast-growing baby-toddler stage during which dressing them up was dictated to only by what actually fits them. Now they’re perhaps themselves becoming a bit more conscious about what they wear, as are you, but picking out an outfit for your children should never pose a headache for you.

You are their biggest influence right now

During these post-toddler, pre-teen years of their lives, children’s biggest influence is indeed their parents, so you’re probably over-thinking things if you find yourself worried about your darlings not approving of the “outfit” picked out my mum. Rest-assured that for a good few years to come, it’ll generally continue to be a case of mum knows best and this is no different with regards to what you dress them up in.

The outfit-consciousness only lasts for a fleeting moment

Because they’re essentially at a crucial stage of their growth and development, children’s minds operate at unbelievable rates. At this stage in their lives their minds are still trying to make sense of what is still a very interesting, relatively new world to them with their biggest concern being that of honing their survival skills. This might be happening on a subconscious, instinctive level, but what it means is that things like how they look take the back seat while they’re more concerned with what they’re doing and how to do it. You shouldn’t worry too much then about how you’ve dressed them up quite simply because they’re not worried themselves. Yes you are the parent and in just about every other situation you know best, but in this particular instance it’s definitely a case of the child’s innocence acting as the ultimate guideline.

Kids just want to be comfortable

They’re obviously not consciously aware of it to the point where they’d actually come out and say anything, but as far as children go, they just want to be comfortable in whatever they’re wearing — physically comfortable that is. They don’t want to be bogged down by some tight-fitting-but-oh-so-fashionable jeans and the like when they’re out running off all their excess energy, so dress them up with their comfort in mind. Naturally, you don’t want your child to look like they don’t have a mother and so you’ll make some effort to dress them up presentably, but this should never have you cracking your head over which top works best with which bottoms, or which pair of shoes matches which dress.

There are also some special occasions during which you’d naturally want to dress your children up to honour the occasion, but the same principles apply. If it gets too hot the kids don’t care about how dapper their jacket looks; they just want to take it off and enjoy feeling more comfortable. During such times when you do want to dress them up for the occasion while maintaining that all-important element of comfort, some child-specific attire and footwear such as baby slippers can come in very handy, proving that style doesn’t always have to give way to comfort.